MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, The, was founded in 1865, at the close of the Civil War, when the need was beginning, to he felt for schools which should train men to deal with the new indus trial problems. It was the plan of President Rogers, and of his coworkers, to establish a school which should give a thoroughly practical training in the application of scientific princi pies to practice in the arts, but not primarily training in mere technics, in the narrow sense. Accordingly they planned that each of its courses should embrace enough general studies to impart the elements, at least, of a liberal education; and, above all, they laid down that the most truly practical training, even in an industrial sense, must be grounded in a thor ough knowledge of scientific laws.
Founded on these principles, the Institute of Technology began a career of steady develop ment. To-day it is the largest school of its class in the United States, the widest in scope of instruction and in many respects the best equipped. The total number of its students in 1916 was 1,900, the total number of instructors 300. The number of volumes in the library was 100,000. Though 60 per cent of the stu dents come from Massachusetts, among the remainder are found residents of 46 States of the Union, and of 28 foreign countries. In all 48 classes have graduated, aggregating over 6,000 persons. Except in seasons of financial depression, the demand for these graduates is always in excess of the supply.
The undergraduate studies of the school are divided into 15 distinct courses, each of four years' duration, and leading to the degree of bachelor of science. These courses are as fol lows: Civil engineering, mechanical engineer ing, mining engineering and metallurgy, elec trical engineering, chemical engineering, sani tary engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering, engineering administration, chem istry, electrochemistry, biology and public health, physics, geology, general science and architecture. Between the departments which maintain these several courses there is the closest connection and mutual support. Conse quently the instruction is specialized to a de gree which would be impossible in a smaller college, with a less numerous staff of instruct ors. Again, the instructors, though connected
in a special sense with one department, are giving instruction, it may be, to students from many others. This mutual helpfulness of the departments is seen first in the fundamental subjects, such as chemistry in the first year and physics in the second, which are given to sev eral courses or to all. It is seen again in the large number of optional lines of work offered. Within most of the regular courses the student is allowed considerable latitude of choice, in the later years of his study, and many thus select that group of studies which is best adapted to the particular branch of his pro fession for which he is preparing.
For 50 years from its establishment the in stitute occupied buildings on or near Boylston street in Boston. From the first structure built by President Rogers the number increased to nine, eight of which were devoted to technical instruction. The most interesting aspect of the equipment were the extensive laboratories. Many of them when first instituted represented an attempt to apply the laboratory method in a way up to that time unknown in the history of scientific instruction in this country. The laboratories of physics and of chemistry were the first to offer laboratory instruction in these subjects to students in large classes; and the mining and metallurgical laboratories, the steam laboratory and the laboratory for testing the strength of materials also represent a marked advance over previous methods, either in the subjects taught or in the scale on which the work is done.
Lack of space in which to expand in the congested business and residential section which grew up around it forced the Institute to seek a location adequate to its needs for con stantly growing activities. It purchased in 1912 a plot of 50 acres in Cambridge, on the bank of the Charles River Basin facing Boston, and on 14 June 1916 the new Technology was dedi cated. Ten acres are devoted to the educa tional buildings with an available floor space of 730,000 square feet. This easily doubles the area of the old buildings and still leaves room for growth to twice the present size.